ALERT NEWSLETTER – November 2019

Hi everyone,

I hope this finds you well.

The colors of Fall are brightening all around us, which is one of the “treats” of the seasons.
The “trick” of the season is that we have now entered our second tornado season.

This is a good time to review your emergency plans and check your emergency equipment.

Are you still ready?

Ask yourselves these simple questions.

Can you receive weather warnings? This includes at home, at work and on the road, even with a power outage.

The best methods for receiving warnings are NOAA Weather Radio, apps from local news outlets and on Social Media following the National Weather Service directly.

Other sources, such as Facebook blurbs and depending on sirens are not good choices. Sirens can fail, either due to storm damage or a power failure and those Facebook blurbs may be anywhere from an hour to a week old. I don’t care who puts the information out. Check the dates and verify the NWS products being issued for your area using directly from the NWS.

Have multiple methods. Have backups of backups.

Do you have a place where you can take shelter at home, at work or on the road?

And, if a tornado strikes near you, do you know what to do?

Is your emergency equipment still ready? This includes radios, supplies, kits and tools.

These are questions that need to be asked and any necessary corrective actions taken.

You and your family’s life depend on it. For though ALERT responds to the NWS to take storm reports, our primary responsibility is to take care of ourselves, our families and then our community.

So take time to learn about disaster preparedness. Think about what you will do if “it” happens to you. Educate your family, friends, coworkers and neighbors as to what they can do and why they should prepare also.

If your message seems to meet unreceptive ears, don’t worry. Those little seeds of knowledge can grow into large trees. Knowledge saves lives.

Saving lives is what we are in “the business” for.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Amateur Radio Callsign Databases

Over the years Hams have always been interested in researching other hams locations or mailing addresses. The primary reasons being to send a QSL card and hopefully obtain one in return or for those seeking a vanity call to see if a certain callsign is currently in use.

I will mention that there are now those who are concerned, if not paranoid, about people being able to look up their callsign and finding their location. The truth is that that cat has long been out of the bag, as we have left and are leaving a “digital fingerprint” the size of Texas.

Whether it is Twitter posts, Instagram pictures or Facebook comments, reactions and group memberships, anything you post, even if you delete it is “out there” somewhere on some server and subject to resurfacing at the most inopportune moments, which is why I WILL NOT be running for President in 2020. Though I do appreciate donations you have made.

Some of the same ones so worried about random people looking them up are the same ones who will readily post the most intimate details of their lives online. After all we are all “friends” right?

But, is that “friend” you befriended really the same friend you knew in High School, or has life and life choices changed them into sketchy strangers that you would never for a moment consider injecting into your and your families lives “if only you had known”?

These days you don’t need to hire a Private Investigator to “profile” someone or “case out the joint”. Just “friend” someone up on Facebook and then dig into what they have put posted online for the world to see. In short order you will learn who they are, where they are, where they work, where they went to school, their political leanings, hobbies, interests, financial, physical and medical conditions, the make-up of their family, including that 16 year old Patricia is a cheerleader at Sunnydale School, but, that closest family friends call her “Trixie”, and that you will be out of town in Arizona next week.

This is why one should be exceedingly careful what they put online, for there are creepers creeping out there. Plus it takes all the fun out of gossiping, after all, all the dirty laundry is now posted proudly for the entire world to see.

So in reality callsign lookups are very the least of our worries.

Just because it’s late as I write this and since it is crossing my mind, do you know where the term “letting the cat out of the bag” comes from?

In the Middle Ages people would go to the market in town and purchase produce and livestock. Piglets were sold and carried home in sacks called “pokes”, which is where “pig in a poke” comes from. Some unscrupulous merchants would put a stray cat in the poke instead and the farmer would not realize it until he reached home, opened the sack and quite literally “let the cat out of the bag”.

Most hams are aware of how to look up a callsign, the primary methods being sites such as:

https://www.qrz.com/lookup/
http://www.arrl.org/advanced-call-sign-search
https://www.qth.com/callsign.php

The most reliable method for US callsigns is from the FCC itself:

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAmateur.jsp

With this you can look up information using the callsign, FRN number or for a “fuzzy search”, the licensee name.

It pays to check the status your callsign and licenses now and then to make sure they aren’t about to expire. I say licenses because many hams have a ham license, radiotelephone license or a GMRS license among others.
Often on online ham radio forums there are questions about how one can look up old callsigns or callsign histories.

In the “old days” hams would use a “Callbook” to look up ham’s addresses. Callbooks were basically telephone book like directories of callsigns and addresses. There was a domestic and a DX edition. For many of the new hams, including myself, they were not particularly affordable and if we were lucky we would know someone with patience and deeper pockets that would look up some calls for you.

The Callbook, which began publication in 1920, is still in existence, now in CD-Rom and USB Stick format. For more information see http://callbook.biz/.

For older Callbooks, including those from 1933 to 1997, Callbooks from the US Department of Commerce published from 1913 to 1932 and the granddaddy of the all, the 1909 to 1911 Wireless Association Of America, Wireless Blue Book, go to https://archive.org/details/callbook.

Thumbing through old call books is like a journey through time as you see callsigns of hams you talked to over the years, and remember the early years of your ham “career”.

That, and looking through old handwritten logbooks.

Often new hams will ask “what logging programs do you use?” Older hams, sometimes derisively called “Gray Beards” often say “pen and paper”. It really isn’t meant as a snarky response. When I look through my old logs and the notes written in the margins I see the journey of a young ham named Mark. His first shaky contacts, comments about tests taken, tests passed, tests failed and tests taken again. That first DX contact to Germany, that first time checking in to a CW net, becoming a Net Control Station, then a Net Manager, and so forth.

So whether you have been a ham a week or half a century or more, even if you use the best logging program available, consider writing it down also. Let it become your ham radio diary.

You will discover that your history is a history worth remembering.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Mark’s Almanac

With the arrival of November we enter our second tornado season. Alabama and the Southeast are “blessed” by being the only area on Earth having two tornado seasons. The cause of the second season is the same as the spring season – clashes of cold and warm air masses. The cold air of winter is invading and trying to push the warmth of the summer back into the sea, which is the same process of springtime.

This second season is often more destructive than the spring season. From 1950 to 2018 there have been 275 November tornadoes in Alabama resulting in 52 fatalities and 1069 injuries. The third largest tornado outbreak occurred on November 24 – 25 2001 when 36 tornadoes occurred and 21 tornadoes occurred during the outbreak of November 23 – 24 2004.

November was Alabama’s leading tornado month from 2001 to 2011 until the dual outbreaks of April 15 and April 27 2011 erased that record.

So beware of a warm & muggy November day. Especially one with a south wind, as something may really be “in the air”.

The Hurricane threat greatly diminishes, with hurricane activity occurring mainly in the open Atlantic, threatening the Eastern Seaboard, but usually veering off into sea as cold fronts off the East Coast deflect them. Hurricanes can still form in the Caribbean, which usually visit the Yucatan, but can enter the Gulf.

From 1851 – 2018 there have been 99 Tropical Storms and 47 hurricanes, 5 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable November hurricanes are:

The 1932 Cuba hurricane, known also as the Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur or the 1932 Camagüey Hurricane. Although forming as a tropical depression on October 30, it became the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in November, and was the deadliest and one of the most intense tropical cyclones in Cuban history. On November 6, the tropical cyclone reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. The storm weakened to Category 4 intensity as it came ashore in Cuba’s Camagüey Province on November 9 with winds of 150 mph. The storm took 3,033 lives.

Hurricane Ida, in 2009 was the strongest land falling tropical cyclone during the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Ida formed on November 4 in the southwestern Caribbean, and within 24 hours struck the Nicaragua coast with winds of 80 mph. It weakened significantly over land, although it restrengthened in the Yucatán Channel to peak winds of 105 mph. Ida weakened and became an extratropical cyclone in the northern Gulf of Mexico before spreading across the southeastern United States. The remnants of Ida contributed to the formation of a nor’easter that significantly affected the eastern coast of the United States.

1985’s Hurricane Kate was the latest Hurricane in any calendar year to strike the United States.
Kate formed on November, 15 and reached hurricane intensity on November 16, and reached Category 2 intensity three days later. Kate struck the northern coast of Cuba on November 19. Once clear of land, she strengthened quickly, becoming a Category 3 storm and reached its peak intensity of 120 mph. On November 21 Kate came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, as Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph.

Hurricane Lenny, or Wrong Way Lenny, occurred in 1999. It is the second-strongest November Atlantic hurricane on record, behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane. Lenny formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea and moved retrograde from the West to East passing South of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. He reached hurricane status south of Jamaica on November 15 and rapidly intensified over the northeastern Caribbean on November 17, attaining peak winds of 155 mph near Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, eventually dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean.

1994’s Hurricane Gordon claimed 1122 lives in Haiti when it passed just west of the country as a tropical storm on November 13, 1994.

Figure 2 – November Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

Both the Atlantic and Pacific Hurricane seasons ends November 30.

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 40.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 34.8 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 10 hours 40 minutes on November 1 to 10 hours 07 minutes on November 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

November 1 Sunrise 7:06 AM Sunset 5:55 PM
November 15 Sunrise 6:19 AM Sunset 4:45 PM – After Daylight Savings Time Ends
November 31 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 4:39 PM

The blooms of summer have faded, but you may find yourself still sneezing, due to ragweed and mold.

Mold is a fall allergy trigger. You may think of mold growing in your basement or bathroom – damp areas in the house – but mold spores also love wet spots outside. Piles of damp leaves are ideal breeding grounds for mold.

Oh, and did I mention dust mites? While they are common during the humid summer months, they can get stirred into the air the first time you turn on your heat in the fall. Dust mites can trigger sneezes, wheezes, and runny noses.

November welcomes the peak of fall colors. For Birmingham the peak occurs around November 15, but the date can vary depending on your elevation & latitude.

Indian Summer and Squaw Winter continue to battle it out, but the cool or cold weather will eventually win, with the first average frost being on November 11.

The usual fall effects occur in North America with Canada’s Hudson Bay becoming unnavigable due to pack ice & icebergs. Navigation in the Great Lakes becomes perilous due to storms bringing the “Gales Of November” made famous in the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”.

And, don’t be surprised if you hear ducks overhead & see wedges of Canadian geese heading south for the winter. And if you see strange birds appearing in your front yard, remember that for 336 species of birds Alabama IS south for the winter.

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude 0.0, is very low in bright twilight after sunset.

He is sinking towards the horizon and will disappear shortly.

On November 11 Mercury will be at “Inferior Conjunction” or directly between the Earth and the Sun.
On this occasion there will be a transit of Mercury across the Sun. A Transit it basically the same process as an eclipse, but Mercury being much more distant will appear as a dark spot crossing the face of the Sun.

This transit will be visible throughout all of South America and Central America, Eastern North America, Mexico, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

In central Alabama first contact will occur at 12:36 UTC or 6:36 AM CST, maximum transit will occur at 15:20 UTC or 9:20 AM CST and last contact will be at 18:04 UTC or 12:04 PM CST. Due to the viewing angle and orbital tracks of the Earth and Mercury, the path will follow a broad horseshoe pattern as Mercury crosses the Sun. Other locations on the globe will have differing tracks.

Observers with telescopes and approved solar filters will be able to observe the dark disk of Mercury moving across the face of the Sun. Some sources say it is not visible without a telescope; however I have seen Mercurial transits before without optical aids.

Treat this the same way you would a solar eclipse, in other words do not try to observe this without a solar filter. Otherwise you may not be able to observing anything at all for a long, long time.

This is an extremely rare event that occurs only once every few years. The next transit of Mercury will not take place until 2032.

Mercury will be at his the closest distance to the Sun or Perihelion on November 16.

On November 28 Mercury will reach “Greatest Western Elongation”, or his highest point above the horizon, in this case 20.1 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Venus is very low in bright twilight after sunset at the beginning of the month and slowly rises in the night sky as the month progresses to become the brilliant “Evening Star”.

We often take for granted that Venus is one of the most constant fixtures in our night sky, shining brightly in the mornings and evenings. Venus occasionally becomes the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon. It is no wonder that some look with worry at this strange “UFO”.

Mars, magnitude +1.8, in Virgo, is just above the east horizon in early dawn.

Jupiter, magnitude –1.9, in southern Ophiuchus, is the creamy-white dot low in the southwest as twilight fades.

On November 24 Jupiter and Venus will sit together in the evening sky in “conjunction”. The two bright planets will be visible within 1.4 degrees of each other in the evening sky. Look for this impressive sight in the western sky just after sunset. So now the worrisome among us will have two “UFOs” to ponder upon.

Just to make things prettier, the thin crescent Moon will join the pair as she passes close to Jupiter on November 28.

Saturn, magnitude +0.6, in Sagittarius, is the steady yellow “star” in the south-southwest during and after dusk.

The Moon will pass near him on the 2nd and 29th.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in southern Aries, is well up in the east by 9 PM and highest in the south around midnight or 1 AM.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in eastern Aquarius, is high in the southern evening.

The Taurid Meteor Shower will occur November 5 & 6. The Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke.

The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the night of November 5. The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving dark skies for viewing. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on November 6, when she will be 251692 miles from Earth.

Full Moon will occur at 13:36 UTC or 7:36 AM CST November 12. November’s Full Moon is called “Beaver Moon” in Native American folklore, because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze. It has also been known as the Frosty Moon and the Hunter’s Moon.

The annual Leonid meteor shower occurs from November 6 – 30 and peaks on the night of November 17 & the morning of the 18th. Though the Leonids are an “average shower”, producing only an average of 15 meteors per hour, they are well known for producing bright meteors and fireballs.

This shower is also unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids are produced by dust grains left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865.

Its productivity varies per year, but it can deposit 12 to 13 tons of particles across the planet. Which is why having an atmosphere to shield us is such a nifty thing.

The second quarter moon will block many of the fainter meteors this year, but if you are patient you should be able to catch quite a few of the brightest ones. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on November 22, when she will be 227,870 miles from Earth.

New Moon will occur November 26. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 15:06 UTC or 9:06 AM CST. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

4084 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of October 24, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Finally, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour at 2 AM, Sunday morning November 3th, as Daylight Savings Time ends and the clock goes back to the way the Good Lord intended.

Look up Hezekiah 4:7, I dare you.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This month’s meeting will be on November 12 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Don’t use the old number given in previous newsletters. It won’t work.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/